Railway-rail joint



March 24, 1931. c. R. GESE RAILWAY RAIL JOINT Filed May 29. 1929 2 sheets-sheep 1 INVENTOR R' 61756 A TTORNE March 24, 1931 c. R. GESE ,5 j 1 RAILWAY .RAIL JOAIINT Filed May 29. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IM ENIOR, Cari GE BY I v W ATTO EY Patented Mar. 24, 1931 UNITED STATES CARL R. GESE, OF JERSEY CITY HEIGHTS, NEW JERSEY RAILWAY-RAIL JOINT Application filed May 29,

This invention relates, generally, to railway-rail construction. and the invention has reference, more particularly, to means for connecting or tying adjoining railway rails,

such tying means being commonly known as rail joints.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a novel railway-rail joint consisting of a unitary member or tie-plate that may be readily and quickly assembled with adjoining railway-rails to tie the same together without the necessity or use of bolts or other additional fastening means.

Another object of the invention lies in the provision of a rail joint of the above character which is of simple construction and reliable in operation and which cannot become loose or ineffective in use or rendered inoperative by unauthorized persons.

The common railway-rail joint employing fish-plates bolted to the sides of the rail webs are objectionable inasmuch as the vibration and jarring of the rails in use owing to the passage of traffic results in a constant loosening of the fish-plates resulting at times in the failure of the joint or spreading of the rails.

The present invention employs unitary tie plates for connecting adjoining rails, which 0 tie-plates are received within recesses in the rails and are forced to desired locked position with the rails not only by the spiking of the rails to the ties, but also by the weight of the passing traffic.

Other objects of the invention not at this time more particularly enumerated, will be clearly understood from the following detailed description of the same.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a section of a railway-track embodying the principles of the present invention and illustrates a man ner of assembling adjoining rails;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but illustrates the adjoining rails in assembled relation;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the structure of Fig. 2 and illustrates the use of lag screws for securing the rails to the ties;

1929. Serial No. 366,962.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4: of Fig. 3; and Y Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

Similar characters of reference are employe'd in all of the hereinabove described views to indicate corresponding partsI Referring now to the said drawings, the reference numerals 6 and 7 represent the abut- I ting ends of two adjoining rails of arailway track embodying the principles of the pres ent invention. These rails are of identical construction and each is formed with a head 8, a web 9 and a spike flangelO that is adapted to be secured to the ties 11 as by spikes or preferably by lag screws 12 (see Fig.

The webs 9 of the rails are thickened at'the end portions 13 of the rails and these end portions are provided with central, longitudinally extending channels or recesses 14. The channels, 14: are of rectangular cross-section and when two adjoining rails are assembled, the adjoining channels of these rails are in alignment and are adapted to receive a rectangular tie-plate 15. Tie-plate 15 conforms in cross section to the form and dimensions of the channels 14 and when inserted in these channels at the abutting ends of two rails, it performs the function of the exterior fish-plates and bolts commonly employed.

Tie-plate 15 is provided'at' its bottom near each of its ends with oppositely extending projections or locking lugs 16 and 17 of preferably rectangular cross-section. Locking lugs 16 and 17 are adapted to be positioned within slots 18 provided in the lower part of the end portions of the rails 6 and 7. Slots 18 conform in cross-section to lugs 16 and 17 and snugly receive these lugs to thereby'lock the rails 6 and 7 to the tie-plate 15 and hence lock these rails through the agency of the tie-plate-to one another.

In assembling adjoining rails it is merely necessary to insert the tie-plate 15 into the aligned channels 14 as illustrated in Fig. 1 so that the locking lugs or projections 16 and 17 pass into the recesses 18 thereby locking the rails to the tie-plate and through the tieplate to one another. The rails may be as readily disassembled by raising the rails off of the ties 11 so as to permit the removal of tie-plate 15.

It will be noted that the lag screws 12 by holding the rails upon the-ties 11 act to positively retain the tie-plates and their locking lugs within their respective recesses in the rails, to thereby permanently and positively tie adjoining rails together into an unitary whole. It will be noted also that the weight and arring action of passing trains tends to force the tie-plate and its locking lugs further i into their respective recess-es in the rails, thereby even further enhancing the efii'cie-ncy of the joint.

15 Owing to the positioning of the tie-plate within the recesses 14 and 18 these plates are protected against the weather and against unauthorized disconnection from the rails.

It is apparent that the novel railway joint 2() of this invention is of extremely simple construction and may be made cheaply in large quantities.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently 25, widely diiferent embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is': 1. In a railway rail joint, the combination with the abutting end portions oat two adjoining rails channeled longitudinally and provided at their lower portion-s with recesses extending transversely'through the rail webs and spike flanges, of a plate member formed to fit said channels and transversely extend- 4-9 ing lugs for-med on said plate member and extending within said recesses through the rail Webs and spike flanges to thereby lock said rails to said plate member.

2. In a railway rail joint, the combination with the abutting end portions of two adj oiningrails channeled longitudinally, each of said end portions having a transverse recess extending upwardly from its under surface and through the rail web-and spike flange, of

a tie plate formed to fit in said channels and having projections near its ends fitting into said transverse recesses for locking said rails t-ogether.-

In testimony, that I claim the invention set forth above I have hereunto set my hand this 25th day of May, 1929.

CARL R. GESE. 

